With a new Hyatt Place hotel set to begin construction in downtown Gainesville in January 2022, many have turned their attention to Lot 10, a nondescript parking lot in the city’s center that has stirred the emotions of city officials, local business owners, and community members for nearly a deca
Come October, Gainesville s oldest and youngest residents will have unlimited free rides on city buses.
Starting Oct. 1, people younger than 18 and those 65 and older will no longer be charged to ride Gainesville Regional Transit System.
Monday night, the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization for the Gainesville urban area voted to adopted the yearlong pilot program, with the city and county each pitching in $115,000.
That is the estimated revenue the bus system will lose by not charging those passengers for rides.
City Commissioner Harvey Ward said he hopes the fare-free rides become permanent after the pilot project.
“It is an investment in our children, a repayment of a lifetime of service for our seniors,” he said earlier this week. “I believe transit has a democratizing influence. Number one, if lots of different people ride the bus, that is a good thing. And the easier we make it to ride the bus the less friction we put out there between somebody
The new measure makes panhandling on a street median that’s 6 feet or less wide illegal.
While city and police officials insist the ordinance is not targeting them, people who are homeless and their advocates say there’s no question who will be hurt the most.
“I’m living on the streets,” said Charles Smith, 35, who has been panhandling in the city for about a month, “and now you want to fine me because I’m out here trying to make a living?”
Smith said it’s so much easier for panhandlers if they can stand along a median as drivers waiting at a red light have time to think about giving spare change.